Oregon State University tied versus No. 4-ranked University of Portland on Wednesday night, but the Beavers’ No. 23-ranked men’s soccer team still left the field with a program win.
The new attendance record at Corvallis’ Paul Lorenz Field was set at 1,471 in the ranked matchup, with the Beavers and Pilots leaving the stadium with a goal apiece in a 1-1 tie.
“Even before students got back, the community support here has been really special,” Beavers Head Coach Jarred Brookins said after the game. “I think this is a really special team and a special program, and it means the world to us to have this many people coming out and supporting us.”
The Beavers got off to a fast start in front of their sold-out home crowd, with graduate student forward Nico Nee recording the Beavers’ first shot on goal in the third minute of the game. OSU would record three shots in the first eight minutes.
OSU graduate student defender Fran Cortijo opened up the scoring in the 14th minute, connecting on a crossing pass from senior defender Andrew De Gannes.
The pass initially flew by the goal’s opening, causing De Gannes to turn away with his hands on his head. But Cortijo, from the right side of the goal box, kicked it back. Attempting a save, Pilots goalkeeper Miguel-Angel Hernandez got both gloves on the ball but inadvertently punched it into his own net.
The Beavers took a 1-0 lead, scoring only the sixth goal the Pilots have allowed all season.
“It was with my right foot, and I’m left-footed,” Cortijo said after the game, “so that was even funnier.”
Portland responded in the 29th minute with a goal from third-year forward Anton Hjalmarsson, who took advantage of a ball popped up in the air in the goal box, driving it into the left side of the net to tie the game 1-1.
However, the Beavers left the first half having out-shot Portland 13-4. OSU’s passing game helped the Beavers win the possession battle through the first 45 minutes, with most of Portland’s offensive plays coming on breakaways.
That dynamic changed in the second half, with Portland adding seven more shots. The Beavers had just one in the remaining 45 minutes.
“Especially the first half, I thought we were excellent,” Brookins said. “And of course, they’re a good team, and they made some adjustments tactically in the second half. And we struggled to create as much. Had a little second-half lull where they were playing really well and we lost our feet a little bit.”
Portland controlled the ball for much of the second half, but the Beavers managed to hold the Pilots scoreless, even taking over possession for most of the final five minutes.
“Overall, really proud of the guys for digging in – and even when it didn’t look pretty, not conceding,” Brookins said. “They’ve got some horses up top that are tough to deal with. So yeah, overall, I think it’s a positive result, but at the same time, it was there for us. So it’s hard to not be a little frustrated.”
Brookins said there was more than one factor in the Beavers’ step back in the second half, but he pointed to the team’s “hard week” as a reason.
“We traveled, we played (Loyola Marymount University on Friday), we’re back Saturday, and then it’s a quick turnaround to play Wednesday, and an even quicker one now for Saturday (at Gonzaga),” he said. “So I think that plays a part in it.”
“We definitely didn’t have as much juice in the second half as we did in the first. So we’ve got to figure that out for sure.”
It was a physical game, with 20 fouls between both teams in the first half alone, along with back-to-back yellow cards in the 20th minute. Portland finished with 17 fouls to OSU’s 13.
“I mean, I know what type of team they are, so we expected that part, but we need to be at the same level of that,” Cortijo said. “We need to be ready for that. And I think we were.”
Following the tie, the Beavers advance to 6-3-2 on the season, remaining undefeated when playing at home (4-0-1). The Pilots, on the other hand, set a program record, starting the season unbeaten through 12 games with a 9-0-3 record.
Both teams entered the game with matching conference records atop the West Coast Conference standings, each at 2-0-1. The game ended with the teams in a near-identical spot.
As the WCC won’t have an end-of-season soccer tournament until next school year, the teams’ regular season standings will determine postseason seeding. That includes an auto-bid for the first-place team.
However, Brookins said he didn’t want his team to focus on the long term.
“I think you can get distracted thinking about where other teams are,” he said. “For us, none of that matters if we don’t go win on Saturday. So we got to turn the page quickly and get ready to roll and recover tomorrow, travel Friday, play Saturday. It’s a grind, but that’s why you have a deep team.”
The Beavers will face Gonzaga on Saturday at 7 p.m. They won’t play at home again until 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 against Santa Clara.
